Unexpected Gifts
Written by Kendall Bergman
When Spring rolled around this year, I was busy planning a surprise birthday for one of my sisters, Kim. Her birthday is March 20…the first day of Spring. Family was coming to town as part of the festivities and I was distracted with all of the big and small errands, tasks and details surrounding the weekend of fun…not to mention the energy required to keep the surprise a secret.
Family was arriving on Thursday afternoon and I was anxious for KIm to be at my house when our other sister, Kelley, her son, Seth, his wife and their 3 little girls walked through the door. Kim was totally surprised and the weekend was a blast…a grand time of laughter, celebration, love and loads of memories…shared and made.
Needless to say I didn’t think much of it when I noticed a dove scratching around in my backyard on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings of that week.
While that weekend was the backdrop, it’s not really what this post is about. On Friday morning, my nephew, Seth, was in the backyard with one of his daughters and he peeked his head in the back door and told me there was a nesting dove in my hanging basket and she was sitting on an egg. I thought, “isn’t that sweet” and then remembered seeing the bird in the yard the past couple of mornings.
On Saturday morning, Seth updated me that there were now 2 eggs and the momma dove was busy in the hanging basket…protecting those eggs, keeping them warm and making sure we all stayed away. My sister, Kelley, was quick to invite me to pay attention…this seemed like a precious gift from God.
After a full weekend and a flurry of activity, everyone packed up and headed home on Sunday morning. I was left to the quiet of my home with my 2 dogs and my new feathered friend in the hanging basket. I Googled about nesting doves and sure enough…it’s pretty common for them to take up residence in hanging baskets. I also discovered that it takes the eggs about 2 weeks to hatch and then another 2 weeks for the baby birds to fly from the nest.
I began checking every day…talking to the momma, letting her know she and her babies were safe and praying she’d stay the course. And she did. She weathered a couple of pretty bad thunderstorms and strong winds, but she wouldn’t budge. I noticed that her partner…I assume the dad…would give her a break once a day around 2 or 3 so she could gather food.
At the end of the 2 weeks, the eggs hatched and these tiny, helpless baby birds could be seen tucked up under the momma’s breast and wings. The momma became even more protective and even though she had grown a bit used to me, she’d raise her wings at me if I ever got too close. Good for her!
Each day the babies grew bigger. By the end of the first week the momma was barely able to keep them tucked safely away. And the babies’ appetites were rapidly increasing. This whole thing had me captivated.
By the end of the 2nd week, the babies were rarely under her and they were growing restless. 4 weeks to the day the momma made the hanging basket her temporary home happened to also be Good Friday. One of my friend’s and I were scheduled to Zoom that afternoon. She called about 20 minutes before the Zoom was to start letting me know she was actually in my neighborhood. I told her to come on over and we’d meet in person.
As we were catching up and settling into our conversation I told her about the birds. We went to the patio and she saw the babies. The momma had flown up on the roof and the babies were acting differently. They were moving more freely around the basket.
We came inside and kept looking out the glass door. The momma then flew to the ground and was looking up at the basket…at her babies. The babies were hopping closer to the edge of the basket, looking at the momma on the ground and before we even knew what was happening they flew off. They just hopped out of their home and flew away.
The next day my friend messaged and asked if I’d seen the doves. I looked for them, but they were gone. And they haven’t been back since. And I miss them.
Kelley was right. God gave me a gift this Spring when that momma decided to lay her eggs and protect her babies on my back porch. It’s not lost on me that she showed up just as Spring was beginning and it’s really not lost on me that the momma and her babies took off on Good Friday.
Listen…I imagine there are some significant metaphors to create and lessons to learn from that experience. I’m not sure I can tell you what they are yet. But, I’m convinced that the gift is no less real or meaningful. Another thing I’m convinced of is that part of the gift is a wink and nod from The Creator of everything…a reminder that I’m not forgotten.
The gift of that nesting dove and her babies was totally unexpected. And aren’t those often the most glorious and transformational gifts we ever receive?